p. 1 | PEACE ON EARTH by T.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 28, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 30.

PEACE ON EARTH.

By T.

WHEN Christ the Lord came into the world as the infant Saviour, “the heavenly host” greeted the shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem with the anthem, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men.” Luke 2:14.

“Thousands have been fed to the wild beasts, while assembled multitudes have madly cheered the inhuman work.”

What a thrilling chorus that must have been! The perfect melody of each angel voice, and in the perfect time of heaven’s choir, blended into a soul-stirring harmony. But it was not alone the music, altho its enchanting and thrilling sublimity was infinitely beyond the powers of human description, that filled the hearts of the shepherds with overflowing gladness. The music was rather the celestial medium through which was conveyed the “good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”

The hearts of the people must have fairly burst with joy when they heard the good news that the Saviour—the divine Deliverer—had come to earth. And how wonderfully fitting is the time in which He chose to come! The whole world was then under the imperial tyranny of the Roman Cæsars. The military spirit and the universal despotism of the imperial arms was the dominating idea. The peace of the world was in the hands of a single emperor, and the tramping of the legions of Rome mingled its sound with the pitiful appeals of the oppressed slaves.

Right into the midst of this military subjugation, and at a time, too, when the Israelitish nation was feeling the burden of the Roman yoke the most severely, there came the heralds from heaven announcing the arrival of the Prince of Peace. What “good tidings” these were! The Prince of Peace Himself has come. Prophets and priests had been inspired to tell all that human language could convey to the minds of men about Him. But here is the Christ, even the Lord Himself.

And what a soul-satisfying title He bears: The “Prince of Peace” is He. He came into this old world of strife and war to proclaim peace. Hear His words: “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27.

“Not as the world giveth, give I unto you.” Yes, yes, His peace is another sort, and comes in a different way from the world’s peace. The world can give only an imperfect peace at best. It has nothing complete or permanent to offer. But Jesus comes as a personal Friend to each individual heart, and says, “My peace I give unto you.” And this peace is perfect; it is full, it is complete. Any one who has quaffed at the Fountain of the Prince of Peace has no longer a relish for this world’s joys. He has drunk at that living Fountain, and nothing else gives refreshment and abiding satisfaction.

“These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world.” John 16:33. Yes, in the Master we do have “peace.” But “in the world ye shall have tribulation.”

The world has gone astray. It is out of harmony with the principles of peace. The unconverted heart is ready to make war at the slightest provocation. It is ready to fight a neighbor, or to join the army and fight a nation. The principles of real peace are not rooted and growing there. The world’s heart says, “Peace while everything suits me, otherwise, war.”

So in such a world as this the followers of the Prince of Peace could expect nothing less than “tribulation.” Those who “come out from the world” and become Christians indeed, and not in name only, will find themselves going one way and the world the other. And while the spirit of ruthless war is in the hearts of men, the follower of Christ may be

sure of more or less tribulation. “In the world ye shall have tribulation.” There is no qualification. “Tribulation” surely overtakes every one who is continually on the watch lest he make a compromise with sin.

The Prince of Peace can not arm His followers with carnal weapons. “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.” 2 Cor. 10:4. So, then, as champions of peace, acting under the banner of the Prince of Peace, war and its consequent bloodshed is not for us to wage. As we imbibe the principles of the Master, we have no heart for war. We can not ruthlessly strike down a fellow-man. No! no! An abiding peace that forbids it is in the heart.

The Christian, like his Lord, is ready to suffer any kind of affliction or hardship, but his heaven-born kindness makes it unnatural and impossible for him to strike a blow that will hurt or harm another. These elevated and elevating principles planted in the heart are the enabling power that has ever made it possible for Christian men and women to endure without a murmur the cruelest treatment that could be invented. Thousands have been fed to the wild beasts, while assembled multitudes have madly cheered the inhuman work. Yet so firmly were the principles of peace fixed in these truly Christian hearts that no trace of anger or ill-will beclouded the unrevengeful faces of the devoted souls.

The enemies of the Lord sought continually to destroy His life. Secret plottings were all the time being made against Him. Yet He was the kindest person that ever trod the earth. He was the divine embodiment of “peace, and good-will toward men.” And His “peace” and “good-will” never forsook Him. Even the tortures of the cross could not draw an unkind word or a sentiment of harshness from His lips. The suffering produced by the most fiendish instruments of death that were ever devised could not overthrow the throbbings of peace that were the life-blood of His tender heart. Oblivious to His suffering, and unmindful of the indignities and reproach heaped upon Him, His last moments were spent in pouring out the prayer, “Father, forgive them.”

What a scene is here presented! What an object-lesson is thus given by the great Prince of Peace! He who commanded the host of heaven and who could have summoned legions of angels to put His enemies to rout, offers a prayer for them instead.

Jesus of Nazareth is a wonderful Teacher. His life is a wonderful life. His peace is a wonderful peace. Do you possess it?